Irish-born Americana artist Danny Burns cut Steve Earle’s yarn about a trio of American mercenaries headed South of the Border to join Pancho Villa. The man himself takes the second verse. Steve released this on his 1995 acoustic masterpiece Train A-Comin’, which marked his comeback from his extended vacation in the ghetto. This version cranks up … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — A Maxim, A Movie, A Mercenary Song

I am a History Hitter — a subscriber to Dan Snow’s online streaming service History Hit,  touted as “Netflix for history buffs.” It’s a cheap subscription for a lot of quality content, from documentaries to podcasts. I find them a fine way to wind down a day. They just dropped a solid half-hour doco titled Buffalo Bill: The Man Behind the … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Roman Frontier, Wild West & Old Montana

Episode 5 of King Philip’s War is finally up. You can access it here or on most podcasting platforms, including Spotify. Sheesh. Hate to get delayed like that, but I couldn’t record for several days because my voice sounded like a croaking seal. I’m mostly back in fettle. This episode touches on a couple of the major actions in King Philip’s … [Read more...] about Memo From Turner

March 13, 2023, marks the 265th anniversary of one of the most desperate — and bloodiest — firefights in Frontier Partisan history. It is a tale of Rangers and Partisans, of ambush and counter-ambush — all conducted in heavy snow on the dark and bloody ground around Lake George on the New York Frontier during the French & Indian … [Read more...] about Battle On Snowshoes

Wyrd bið ful aræd One of the great Frontier Partisans epics of all time will roll across our screens next month. Uthred unsheaths Serpent’s Breath for the final time in Seven Kings Must Die, a movie that will tie up the saga of The Last Kingdom. This tale, based on a series of novels by Bernard Cornwell, is as FP as it gets. The protagonist is … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Destiny Is All

Spent a couple of days laid up with some unpleasant non-COVID crud that both Lady Marilyn and I picked up traveling. Felt bad enough to miss a day of work on Tuesday, which is a rare occurrence for me. Made use of the down time, though. Several readers have recounted tales of strange sleep encounters with a “Night Hag.” (See comments on  Working … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Terror, Suspense & The Guns Of 1923

  Here’s the movie you didn’t know you needed — an over-the-top Finnish Frontier Partisan yarn dripping with pulpy goodness that evokes the classic Men’s Adventure magazines of yore (looking at YOU Bob Deis!). In a world that valorizes weakness and victimhood, by Crom, we need us some SISU! During the last desperate days of WWII, a … [Read more...] about SISU Brings The Pulpy Mayhem

Season 2 of Into the Wild Frontier has dropped on INSP. The first episode, KIT CARSON: FEARLESS FIGHTER, aired February 15. Kit Carson spends his teenage years in the Southwest, learning to hunt, trap, and scout. Along the way, he befriends other frontier legends like Jim Bridger, and he quickly earns a reputation for his steely nerves and … [Read more...] about Back To The Wild Frontier

The Glen Coe Massacre doco got me thinking about George RR Martin, who based his infamous Red Wedding in part on the violation of hospitality in the dastardly incident of 1692. Martin, who lives in New Mexico, is a producer on the Navajo Noir series Dark Winds. Although it’s not the “Winds” his fans are waiting (endlessly) for, Martin … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Dark Winds Blow

I promised I would send up a smoke signal when The Munros: A Personal Journey dropped the new, in-depth episode on the Glen Coe Massacre. I’m a couple of days late, but I have a very good excuse: I was required to report to The Alamo. Seriously. I’ve been in San Antonio, Texas, for the past few days, at a newspaper conference. Some Frontier … [Read more...] about Massacre At Glen Coe